Thank You God

For all You have given,

Thank You God.

For all You have withheld,

Thank You God.

For all You have withdrawn,

Thank You God.

For all You have permitted,

Thank You God.

For all You have prevented,

Thank You God.

For all You have forgiven me,

Thank You God.

For all You have prepared for me,

Thank You God.

For the death You have chosen for me,

Thank you God.

For the place you are keeping for me in heaven,

Thank You God.

For having created me to love You for eternity,

Thank You God.

Ravens Will Host A Free Open Practice This Sunday

Photo Courtesy of The Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens will hold their Military Appreciation Day on Sunday, August 11, coinciding with the team’s 5 p.m. free and open training camp practice at M&T Bank Stadium.
The stadium practice venue will feature interactive fan events, including player autograph signings for children, fun-filled activities designed specifically for youth and cheerleader/mascot meet-and-greets.

M&T Bank Stadium (Baltimore, MD) – Free And Open To The Public
When:		Sunday, August 11 | Practice Begins at 5:00 p.m. | Gates open at 3:30 p.m.
Parking:		Lots open at 1:00 pm and are available for cold tailgating. Parking will be $10.
Details:		Baltimore’s Marching Ravens, cheerleaders, official mascot Poe and live mascots Rise and Conquer will be in attendance. The Ravens Team Store and concession stands will be open.

 Click here for a complete list of the day's activities.

20 Reasons Maryland Is The Coolest State!

Okay.  Old Bay is pretty awesome.   But click here for all 20 reasons.

Pasadena Student With Special Needs Named Prom Queen

Photo Courtesy of WJZ-TV 13 Baltimore

Meet Victoria Hill from Northeast High school and find out more about her special night by clicking here.

Criticism: Good, Bad, and the Difference Between the Two

Criticism isn't always a bad thing.

It can be something that helps a person/organization grow. It can help you view a task, job, or thought process in a different light through an opposing view point. It can even help a person course correct and positively put them on a fresh, uncharted path personally and professionally. Criticism shows that someone cares. Unfortunately, criticism is typically the adult form of throwing a temper tantrum and crying out for attention.

The trick is to recognize that there are two forms of criticism and then expressing it appropriately.

1) Good, (constructive) Criticism
When expressed, doesn't tear a person/organization down and encourages them to grow personally/professionally. This criticism focuses on helping the other person/organization. It's like turning on a flashlight in a dark room and pointing the beam towards the exit to help guide the person.

2) Bad Criticism
When expressed, is done in a way without regard for the feelings of the person/business. It's all about the criticizer expressing their irritation towards the person/business. It's like being in a bright room and someone comes along, switches off the lights, leaving you in pitch black darkness, struggling to discover the exit.

One type of criticism builds up; the other tears down.

"Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." - Ephesians 4:29

"So encourage each other and build each other up..." - 1 Thessalonians 5:11a

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires." James 1:19-20

"If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless." - James 1:26

The next time you have the opportunity to express criticism, ask yourself, "Is this about helping the other person/business, and can I say it in away to be helpful to the other person/business? Or is this about helping me express my frustration?"

You'll find your answer very quickly if it's criticism that can and should be expressed.

 - Erin

Dashboard Cheesy Kale Chips

You know...for a girl without central air in her house, you'd think I'd dread the hot and hazy Baltimore days. I don't enjoy sweating. I don't enjoy seeing my hair frizz. And I definitely don't enjoy the feeling of sweat beads rolling down the side of my face. EWWW.

But I love it when the temp goes above 95 degrees because it's actually hot enough to bake something in my car. If you're going to get scorched, you might as well get a tasty treat out of it, right?

I've made cookies and fruit roll ups in my car, but I decided to go the healthy route: kale chips. I know. Kale is ridiculously anti-climactic compared to cookies and fruit roll ups, but trust me...these things are addicting. Jack rolled his eyes, crinkled his nose, and lamented the kale and eggs his wife "makes" him eat for breakfast. But after he ate one, he kept reaching for more and said they taste like cheese popcorn. WIN!

Here's the thing - the ingredients to make the Cheesy Kale Chips are a bit untraditional. The really "weird" ingredient is nutritional yeast (not to be confused with Brewer's Yeast). I picked everything up at my local health food store, and if I were you, I'd walk in the door of the health food store, march myself up to a one of the clerks, show them the list of ingredients and say, "Let's go on a scavenger hunt!" Seriously, don't stress yourself out trying to find it. They'll know exactly where to look. Nutritional yeast is worth finding because it gives the kale the "cheesy" flavor. Per tablespoon, nutritional yeast has 130% of your daily vitamin B-12, 4 grams of fiber, 8 grams of protein, and 60% of your daily folic acid! All in ONE TABLESPOON! It's seriously delicious stuff that you'd never know is super healthy for you too.

Jack is hoarding the cheesy kale chips!

Cheesy Kale Chips
Recipe lightly adapted from Pride & Vegudice

1 bunch curly kale
1 cup cashews (raw, not roasted or salted)
1 red bell pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon sea salt

Place the cashews in a medium sized bowl and cover with water. Let the cashews soak for a minimum of 3 hours. This will soften the cashews and make them easier to blend. You can even do this step the night before, if you'd like, and let the cashews soak while you sleep.

Remove the tough, woody stems from the kale leaves and tear them into bite-sized pieces. Thoroughly wash and dry the kale (a salad spinner is great for this) and drop the pieces into the biggest bowl you have. Kale seems to expand.

In a food processor, drop the garlic cloves through the shoot while the food processor is running. When the garlic is chopped, stop the food processor, add everything but the kale, and process until everything is smooth. It should look like a really thick salad dressing.

In a large bowl, toss the "cheese sauce" and kale until the kale is thoroughly coated. Try not eat it straight from the bowl like I did. Seriously...I could have eaten the whole bowl just like that.

Line two large cookie sheets with foil or parchment paper (I only brought one with me to work). Arrange the kale pieces on the cookie sheets so there's still a little space in between them. At this point, you can either pop these in an oven at 200 degrees for around 45 minutes... or you can bake them in your car :-).

Make sure it's 95 degrees or hotter outside and your car is parked in full sun. Drape a bath towel over the dashboard so you don't accidentally melt it. Place the cookie sheets on the dashboard, make sure you don't need anything from your car for the next few hours, shut the door, admire your kale chips, and then walk away. The heat from sun will turn your car into an oven and the kale chips will dry out. They should be completely dried in 2-3 hours. Try not to eat them all... like Jack & me.

Here's a sweet video of a military dad who dresses up as Captain America to surprise his son. Just try to watch this without getting a little misty!


 


 And here's another video Jack loved of these dogs saying grace before mealtime.

 

Mercies In Disguise

So as I lay here in bed - bandaged and recovering from surgery - let me share a little of what's going on with me.

 I've been in pain for awhile now. In January, I decided to make a visit to the doctor after a personal training session left me with extreme discomfort and pain in my lower abdomen (the pain was not the personal trainer's fault). After several sonograms, the conclusion was that I had a cyst in my lower abdomen, and it was not going away. Surgery was going to be necessary. During this time, I also hurt my back (I was sitting down, reached over to get a pencil, and felt a "twinge" in my back).

I opted to keep what was happening in my world to a very small circle mainly because I didn't know what the outcome would be. With the exception of one person, I seemed to only run into women with cysts in the same area where mine was located, and it turned out to be cancerous. I wasn't sure if that was God preparing me in advance or what. Regardless, I didn't want to needlessly worry others or have rumors spread about what was happening to me, so I kept things very quiet so that I could also try to process what was happening. The past three months have been nothing short of a physical and emotional roller coaster, and it was finally time to hop off the roller coaster.

I went into St. Agnes early Thursday morning to have the cyst removed, and I was ready to go. No fear! The team at St. Agnes was fantastic and made me feel so comfortable. Knowing that many of the people who took care of me are listeners especially put me at ease - it made me feel like I was with friends. The surgery went off without a hitch, and a softball sized, non-cancerous, cyst was removed laparoscopically from my lower abdomen. Amazingly, within a few short hours, I was at home.


Sleep has been a welcome relief from the pain. I have five holes across my stomach, and I look like I'm 6 months pregnant, thanks to the swelling and the bandages. My throat is still a bit sore from being intubated. The swelling and bruising on my hand from the where they put in the IV is starting to go down. I still need help getting up, but I'm needing less and less help. I'm tired though. Really tired. It also hurts to laugh...and you know that I like to laugh. Laughter is how my family handles problems. We turn everything into a joke. I've had to kick my parents and my brother out of my room multiple times for making me laugh. My mother insisted on giving me a bell to ring for when I needed help. Except we don't have a bell that I can ring. A wild look appeared in my father's eyes, he dug around on a shelf, and pulled out... a rubber chicken that squawks when you squeeze its belly. Yes. My bell is a rubber chicken. Every time I squeeze the chicken for help, I laugh. Painful, but so funny! What's even weirder...I'm growing attached to the rubber chicken. I woke up from a nap cuddling it like it was a stuffed animal. This is a sign that I am returning to normal.

As I've been laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, with plenty of time with my thoughts, the lyric from Laura Story's song, "Blessings," keeps floating through my head: "What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise?" This entire "trial" has really been God's mercy in disguise. Without the struggle of trying to get in shape, I wouldn't have known as soon as I did that I had a cyst. Without the back pain, I would have continued to exercise with the cyst, unaware that the cyst had attached itself to other organs in the general locale - the back pain kept me immobile and from further damaging myself. Right now, I have no back pain. Amazing, isn't it? I'm sure even more mercies will come out of this. Maybe an added mercy is that I get to share what I went through with you. If things don't feel right, go to the doctor. Don't wait around. You may have to go to a few doctors to find the right one who will listen to you - I sure did when I was being diagnosed with hypothyroidism. But please, pay attention to the warning signals your body is giving you!

So, as I'm sure you can expect, I'm going to be out for a little while. I'd greatly appreciate your prayers for a fast recovery. Hopefully, I will return next week. Until then, I'm very grateful to Jack for towing the line and being patient with me as surgery day approached, and to Tiffanie from our promotions department who will be filling in for me while I'm out. I'm sure you'll enjoy her - she's bright, fun, and bubbly. Thanks in advance for your prayers. See you next week, Lord willing!


 Erin

Ravens Game Day Menu

It's the playoffs.

Therefore, special food is essential.

So, in honor of today's Ravens game, I decided to make myself a Baltimore Ravens lunch: Haloti Hawaiian BBQ, Flaco Fennel Salad, Purple & Gold Roasted Potatoes, and Black Bean Brownies.

Now that the Ravens get to play another week... I've got to figure out next week's menu. And, yes, thanks to everyone's suggestions, Ray Rice Pudding WILL be on the menu.







Haloti Hawaiian BBQ
recipe slightly adapted from here

3lbs chicken breasts or thighs
1 18oz bottle of BBQ sauce (Jack Daniels is my fave)
1 20oz can crushed pineapple
1 cup chopped onion (frozen or fresh)

In a slow cooker, layer the ingredients in this order: chicken, diced onion, BBQ sauce, crushed pineapple. Place the lid on top and cook on high 4-6 hours or low 8-10 hours. About an hour before serving, pull chicken out, shred, return to sauce, and cook until the shredded chicken has absorbed the sauce.



Flacco Fennel Salad

1 fennel bulb
1 small apple
1 naval orange

Thinly slice fennel and place into a small bowl. Core, halve, and thinly slice apple and add to fennel. Use a sharp knife to cut away orange pith and cut the orange into horizontal slices. Reserve two orange slices and squeeze over fennel and apples. Cut remaining orange slices into fourths. Add to the fennel and apple. Toss together and serve.



Purple & Gold Roasted Potatoes

1lb Purple Majesty potatoes (or any purple potato)
1lb Yukon Gold potatoes
1-2 Tbls olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Line a large sheet pan with foil and coat with non-stick cooking spray. Wash and dry potatoes and cut into bite sized chunks. Place on prepared sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt. Toss together to mix. Arrange the potatoes so they are in a single layer. Place in oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown.



Black Bean Brownies
recipe adapted from here

15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans)
2 ripe bananas
3 large eggs
1/3 cup agave or honey
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tbls instant coffee granules
1/4 cup instant/quick oats
2 Tbls mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick cook spray. In a blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth (you may see some flecks of black bean skins). Fill muffin tins with mixture until muffin tins are almost full (this makes 16 brownies, so you won't use all the mix the first time around). Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Remove from muffin tin when cool.

Yield: 16 brownies

The Gift Card

The minute your feet hit the ground this morning, you were handed two gift cards.

The first gift card is loaded with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The second gift card is loaded with little white lies, gossiping, sharp words, eye rolling, short tempers, anger, pride, jealousy, doubt, and hate.

Both gift cards are unlimited, and you will use them multiple times today. Which gift card you choose to use, however, is entirely up to you. Choose wisely, because the recipient will know which gift card you reached for today. But only you will know which one you reached for more often.


-- Erin

Just Stay Calm

The Israelites were a bunch of whineys, weren't they?

God rescued them over and over again and they whined at the slightest hiccup.

Not like I can identify with that or anything.

Whatever.

Anyway, I came across this Bible verse and it resonated with me.

Quick set up: Pharaoh had just released the Israelites when he changed his mind and decided to go after them. The Israelites were at the edge of the river with no place to go. They could see Pharaoh and his army behind them, barreling down on them. So, naturally, they did what most people would do. They lost it. They'd been through so much... but this was the final straw. So they berated their leader, Moses:

"'Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’” Exodus 14:11-12

But Moses, being the ever patient leader, said to them:

" ...'Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.'" Exodus 14:13-14

I love that - "just stay calm."

I lose it when I get to the proverbial "water's edge." God's rescued me so many times, yet I still lose it when I can't see what God sees. If I was in the same place as the Israelites, I'd probably see a river too. Who would have envisioned God parting the river so they could walk through it? Yet that's what He does every time I get to the water's edge. He parts the waters to make a way out for me.

My takeaway after reading those verses is something that I needed to be reminded of. Frequently.

It's this: don't lose it. The person or thing that I feel like I can't escape from will go away. I may feel defenseless, but my feelings aren't telling the truth. God's taking care of it. He's fighting for me. So I just need to take a chill pill and let God do the thing that He does. Because He always comes through.

Such a simple lesson that I need to be reminded of over and over again.

I don't know where you are today or what you're facing, but don't lose it. God's fighting for you. Just stay calm. Get ready to watch God do something amazing...like part a sea before your very eyes.


Erin :-)

Standing At the Foot of the Cross...Really

It was a cold morning for a walk.

47 degrees cold.

I'm not quite ready for these temps. It doesn't even smell like autumn to me yet.

Nevertheless, I laced up my shoes, started out on my walk and promptly turned around to go back home and get my fleece jacket. I almost changed my mind at that point and thought about staying inside, but I told myself I needed to stick with it. I needed to go on my morning walk.

Straight up: I've been slacking. Slacking in my exercise, slacking in healthy eating habits, slacking in maintaining my stress levels... slacking in at all, it feels like.

My morning walk is my alone time. My me time. My time with God. My time where no one and no thing is pulling at me. I don't listen to music when I walk or run because I like to observe the things around me. I like to pray. This morning it was so quiet, I could hear the squirrels in the trees munching on acorns and dropping the shells to the pavement below. I nearly got dinged on the head by a squirrel mindlessly chucking an acorn shell.

Maybe I'm not as one with the squirrels as I originally thought.

But this morning, I was feeling "it." I was feeling tired of the pressure ...the pressure of not doing the things I know should be doing ...the pressure of doing the things I know I shouldn't be doing.

I felt guilty for asking it. Almost afraid...maybe because I didn't want to be disappointed. But I asked God if He could leave a heart shaped leaf or stick smiley face for me (as He's done before) because I needed one today. And so I started looking, scanning the sidewalk and the trees for a sign.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

I started to doubt. I thought maybe I was asking too much of God, even though I know He is perfectly able to do way above anything I could hope or ask for (Ephesians 3:20). Then I thought, "What if I was putting Him in a box? What if He had a different way of showing me that He loves me and I was too busy looking for Him in my own way?" And so I asked God to do His own thing and help me not be blind to see it when He did it.

And that's when I saw it.

He gave me something infinitely better than a heart shaped leaf or a smiley face made out of twigs and bark.

He gave me Himself.

I was literally standing at the foot of the cross.

It was such a clear reminder that the pressure and stress that I've been carrying around...I need to lay them at the foot of the cross.

His cross.

The cross that Jesus died on so that I could have life and freedom (John 3:16; Galatians 5:1), not stress and pressure because of my own selfishness.

And so, today, my goal is to lay the things weighing me down at His cross...and to leave them there. Once again.

Because I know when I do give those things to the Lord, He says He'll do this (italics mine):

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28


"He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." - Isaiah 40:29-31


"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:6-7


"Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." - Psalm 55:22

So what's weighing you down? What's holding you back from feeling freedom today? I'm being reminded, for the bajillionth time, that a pretty miraculous thing happens when we give those things over to God: rest, strength, and peace.

-- Erin :-)

Life's Embroidery

Here's the story we shared this afternoon. Where you see chaos, God doesn't, because He's the One operating with the plan!

Jack & Erin

Life's Embroidery

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for awhile, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side. “

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass, and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.”

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy. Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing."

So it is with our lives. We may often look up and question, “What is going on?” When our life is actually being embriodered. It may look a mess to us, seem all jumbled and filled with dark threads – but it is part of a master plan, a design and one day we will see the plan from the other side.

~Author Unknown

The Camper's Prayer

God bless our traveling home
And guide us wherever we roam.
Help us find the roads we seek,
But please don’t let the plumbing leak.

Save us, Lord, from engine trouble
And mechanics that would charge us double
Lord, as we cross the USA
Would you bless us with sunshine every day?

As we travel the country near and far
Let us remember who you are
Our Lord who watches overall
Could you please let gas prices fall

Lead us safely to good food and friends
And when at last our journey ends
Grant our rolling home sweet rest
Until its next endurance test.

The Starfish Story

The Starfish Story
A variation of the original story by Loren Eisley


One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a little girl picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the little girl, he asked, “What are you doing?”

She replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Little girl,” the man said, “Don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the girl bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.

Then, smiling at the man, she said, “I made a difference for that one.”


In such turbulent times as these, when we may feel alone and small and unable to make any lasting changes we may find ourselves asking "What can I do that will make a difference?" or "What can one small person like me do?"

In reality we don't have to be rich, talented or even college educated to make a difference in the life of another. We just need to remember that we are here for a purpose, and that making small changes in the world eventually add up to something bigger in the life of another.

Stink Bug Catcher-O-Matic

Some may say this is an old, plastic Chinese food container.

I scoff at those people.

Scoff!

I see the Stink Bug Catcher-O-Matic.

Simply fill Stink Bug Catcher-O-Matic 1/3 full of water and squirt a smudge of dish soap in the water. When a stink bug appears, use the lid to flick the stink bug into the Stink Bug Catcher-O-Matic. After a brief moment, the stink bug will become "neutralized."

Warning, may cause you to want to say "RAWR" every time the Stink Bug Catcher-O-Matic does its job!

But, I may soon be turning my Stink Bug Catcher-o-Matic in for one of these!!

The Train Sacrifice

The Train Sacrifice

There was a bridge spanning a large river. Most of the day, the bridge sat with its length running up and down the river parallel with the banks, allowing ships to pass thru freely. Twice a day, a train would come along and the bridge was turned sideways across the river, allowing the train to cross.

A switchman sat in a small shack on one side of the river where he operated the controls to turn the bridge and lock it into place for the trains to cross. One evening the switchman was waiting for the last train of the day to come. The train approaching was a passenger train with many people aboard. When the train was within a prescribed distance, he stepped up to the controls and turned the bridge into position. To his horror, the locking control was not working. If the bridge was not locked in position, the train would jump the track and crash into the river below.

The switchman hurried across the bridge to the other side of the river where there was a control lever, which he could operate manually to lock the bridge in place. He would have to hold the lever back firmly, with all his strength, as the train crossed. He could hear the rumble of the train, and he took hold of the lever and pulled backward with all his might, locking the bridge into place. He kept applying the pressure to keep the mechanism locked. Many lives depended on his strength. Then, from the direction of his control shack across the bridge, the switchman heard a sound that made his blood run cold.

"Daddy, where are you?"

His four-year-old son was crossing the bridge to look for him.

His first impulse was to cry out to the child, " Run! Run!" But the train was too close. The tiny legs would never make it across the bridge in time. In the same instant, he almost left the lever to run and snatch up his son and carry him to safety. But he realized that he could not get back to the lever in time for the train to pass safely. Either the people on the train or his little son would have to die. It took a moment to make his decision.

The train sped safely and swiftly on its way. No one on board was even aware of the tiny broken body thrown mercilessly into the river by the onrushing train. Nor were they aware of the sobbing man, still clinging tightly to the locking lever long after the train had passed. Neither did they see him walking home more slowly than he had ever walked before, to tell his wife how they had lost their only son.

As we comprehend what this experience must have meant to this man and how it affected him, we begin to realize what our Father in Heaven must have had to endure when He sacrificed His Son (the most innocent man ever) - to bridge the gap between us and eternal life. Can there be any wonder that He caused the earth to tremble and the skies to darken when His Son was crucified? And how it must affect Him when we speed along thru life with little thought or appreciation for His sacrifice.

Resurrection Rolls

I introduced Resurrection Rolls to Jack last year and he's decided they are going to be an Easter tradition for his family. Kids AND adults will have fun making them! My parents' home church made them, and it was a fun way to retell the story of Christ's sacrifice. You can find the original post here, but I'll repost it to make life easy :-).

Enjoy!

- Erin (and Jack too)

--------------------------------------

Resurrection Rolls

1 package crescent rolls
8 large marshmallows
2 TBLS melted butter
1/4 cup cinnamon sugar (mix 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon together for homemade cinnamon sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper (it will make clean up soooo much easier!).

Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls (you'll want to flatten the wide end slightly).
The crescent roll represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Give each child a marshmallow.
This represents Jesus and His purity.

Have your child dip the marshmallow in melted butter.
This represents the oils of embalming.

Roll the buttered marshmallow in the cinnamon and sugar.
This represents the spices used to anoint the body of Jesus.

Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll by folding up the sides to seal the marshmallow up tight.
This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.

Place in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. The marshmallow may ooze out the side!
The oven represents the tomb (pretend like it was 3 days and nights!)

While the rolls are baking, you can read Matthew 27:57-61 and Matthew 28:5-8.

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloths) and discover that Jesus is no longer there. HE IS RISEN! The marshmallow melts and the cresent roll is puffed up, but like the tomb - IT IS EMPTY!

I Will Wait For You

I saw this video this morning and was overwhelmed by the message. The message is directed at single women, but the message is universal. Are we willing to wait on His best for us...and be content that His best for us is Himself? Jesus IS worth the wait.


But to my Father
My Father who has known be before I was birthed onto this earth
Only if You should see fit
I desire Your will above mine
So even if You call me to a life of singleness
My heart is content
You are the greatest love story ever told
You are the greatest love ever known
You are forever my judge
And I am forever your witness
And I pray that I'm always found on a mission about my Father's business
I will always be Yours
And I will always wait for You, Lord
More than the watchmen wait for the morning
More than the watchmen wait for the morning, I will...
...WAIT


Erin

God's Days

God's Days

There are two days in the week upon which and about which I never worry -- two carefree days kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday. Yesterday, with its cares and frets and pains and aches, all its faults, its mistakes and blunders, has passed forever beyond my recall. It was mine; it is God's.

The other day that I do not worry about is Tomorrow. Tomorrow, with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its perils, its large promise and performance, its failures and mistakes, is as far beyond my mastery as its dead sister, Yesterday. Tomorrow is God's day; it will be mine.

There is left, then, for myself but one day in the week - Today. Any man can fight the battles of today. Any woman can carry the burdens of just one day; any man can resist the temptation of today. It is only when we willfully add the burdens of these two awful eternities - Yesterday and Tomorrow - such burdens as only the Mighty God can sustain - that we break down.

It isn't the experience of Today that drives men mad. It is the remorse of what happened Yesterday and fear of what Tomorrow might bring. These are God's Days...leave them to Him.

--Anonymous